A world that is a reflection of me
I was listening to NPR a bit this morning on my way into work and I was listening to an author that mentioned that in the final scene of a book a girl was finally in a position that she had desired for her whole life. She, in the author's words, was able to "create a world that was a reflection of who she was." In context, the author was referring to a word where her interests (the theater) and her skin color (black) was taken into account to such an extent that she felt instantly at home and comfortable.
I know the feeling well of returning home from an extended vacation or a particularly protracted, yet exhausting, trip and the comfort that extends to my mind and body. I think that this what the author was, in part, alluding to. Yet, I couldn't shake the feeling that inhabiting a world that is a reflection of me is the last thing that I would want. I know me (not as well as I am known) and I also know that no one would want to live in a world molded into my image.
Simply put, a world that is a reflection of me is both minute and evil. Now it is not like I am some Snidely Whiplash that goes around tying damsels in distress to train tracks daring Dudley Do-Right to arrive in the nick of time to save her....again. But my mind and actions are often far from God and I force more doors open than he wants me to. I plunge into the flood of sin more often than even I expect. This immediate world around me is, far too often, less reflective of him and more reflective of me. And isn't that the struggle? The temptation that I have to make this world my home? This burning world?
God has seen it fit to create a home for me. As much as I want to slip into the comfort of this one, that is not why I was created. I was created to swim against the tide of the desire to create a world that is a reflection of me. His revelation, his power has been given to me so that I can create a world that is a reflection of him. In my heart, mind, home, church, workplace, wherever I am. And it is exhausting at times.
But, when I look back, I see the wisdom of it all. The peace of it all. The sweet fruit of it all. None of this was me from the womb. All of it is now me from the Womb.
I know the feeling well of returning home from an extended vacation or a particularly protracted, yet exhausting, trip and the comfort that extends to my mind and body. I think that this what the author was, in part, alluding to. Yet, I couldn't shake the feeling that inhabiting a world that is a reflection of me is the last thing that I would want. I know me (not as well as I am known) and I also know that no one would want to live in a world molded into my image.
Simply put, a world that is a reflection of me is both minute and evil. Now it is not like I am some Snidely Whiplash that goes around tying damsels in distress to train tracks daring Dudley Do-Right to arrive in the nick of time to save her....again. But my mind and actions are often far from God and I force more doors open than he wants me to. I plunge into the flood of sin more often than even I expect. This immediate world around me is, far too often, less reflective of him and more reflective of me. And isn't that the struggle? The temptation that I have to make this world my home? This burning world?
God has seen it fit to create a home for me. As much as I want to slip into the comfort of this one, that is not why I was created. I was created to swim against the tide of the desire to create a world that is a reflection of me. His revelation, his power has been given to me so that I can create a world that is a reflection of him. In my heart, mind, home, church, workplace, wherever I am. And it is exhausting at times.
But, when I look back, I see the wisdom of it all. The peace of it all. The sweet fruit of it all. None of this was me from the womb. All of it is now me from the Womb.
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